No sound from Acer Predator laptop speakers

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 3:52pm

I had some time this weekend so decided to finally try to solve an unknown issue with sound on MX-Linux on my laptop.

Sound always worked well until a last trip I made where I was using my laptop in hotel room to stream some shows using my bluetooth speaker. Once I got back home and tried to use the internal speakers, nothing, NADA.

I have tried removing/reinstalling pipewire, pulseaudio, but nothing fixes it. I can use my BT speaker without issue but trying to get any sound, system sounds, etc. from the laptop speakers produces nothing.

I do use my laptop with an external HDMI monitor connection and have an Nvidia 3060 card, so I can choose from either option for sound, but neither works.

I know nothing about audio so any tips or tricks to return my use of internal speakers would be greatly appreciated.

Sys info:

System:
  Kernel: 6.5.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 [6.5.3-1~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.20.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.5_ahs_x64 Libretto October 15  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux
    12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Predator PT314-51s v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: TGL model: Clubman_TLM v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.08
    date: 07/23/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 40.1 Wh (100.0%) condition: 40.1/60.2 Wh (66.6%) volts: 16.4 min: 15.5
    model: SMP AP20A7N type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: full cycles: 110
CPU:
  Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11375H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11
    level: v4 note: check built: 2020 process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8C (140) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0xB8
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 320 KiB
    desc: d-4x48 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 5 MiB desc: 4x1.2 MiB L3: 12 MiB desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2999 high: 4303 min/max: 400/4800:5000 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 3581 2: 2259 3: 4303 4: 2875 5: 3053 6: 3164 7: 4300 8: 460
    bogomips: 52838
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling,
    PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1
    bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a49 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: nvidia v: 535.216.03 non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Ampere
    code: GAxxx process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 bus-ID: 0000:01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2523
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Chicony HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-8:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b6dd
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9 compositor: xfwm v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv dri: iris
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") s-diag: 584mm (22.99")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-1-0 pos: primary res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 102 size: 480x270mm (18.9x10.63")
    diag: 551mm (21.68") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 144 dpi: 158 size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85")
    diag: 355mm (13.96") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 24.2.2-1~mx23ahs renderer: Mesa Intel Xe Graphics (TGL GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
    bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a0c8 class-ID: 0401
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.5.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.6 status: off with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: off 2: wireplumber
    status: off tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol,pulsemixer
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 vendor: Rivet Networks driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl
    bus-ID: 0000:00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a0f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
    sub-v: 2184 hci-v: 5.2 rev: 2184
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd v: 0.6 port: N/A
    bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a0b rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 5.69 TiB used: 5.22 TiB (91.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 41.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD50NDZW-11MR8S1
    size: 4.55 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 1023 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: USB 3.2Gen1 size: 232.97 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 650.17 GiB size: 638.9 GiB (98.27%) used: 383.54 GiB (60.0%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 511 MiB size: 252 MiB (49.32%) used: 559 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 5 GiB used: 4.04 GiB (80.7%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  Src: /sys System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 3414 pm: dpkg pkgs: 3367 libs: 1856 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 47
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/testrepo/ bookworm test
    3: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/onlyoffice.list
    1: deb https://download.onlyoffice.com/repo/debian/ squeeze main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera-stable.list
    1: deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teamviewer-keyring.gpg] https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/extrepo_librewolf.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 arm64] https://repo.librewolf.net librewolf main
Info:
  Processes: 470 Uptime: 5d 22h 50m wakeups: 947 Memory: 23.27 GiB used: 11.78 GiB (50.6%)
  Init: SysVinit v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: service Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

Thanks,
Sheila

Update:
I did want to add that MX Select Sound option lists two cards and the default is Nvidia. The other item listed is shown in the image below and using Test Sound Card produces nothing. But if you are in volume control , testing sound cards shows the audio is being played in both speaker and HDMI but nothing is heard. I am not able to upload a screen recording showing this, but do have the sound card select window:

kovacslt · February 1, 2025, 4:16pm

Do you have pavucontrol installed?
Try looking at the volume settings, what is your default sound output?
Maybe the HDMI output of your nvidia is choosen for some reason?
Look at the output devices tab in pavucontrol.

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:20pm

I do have it installed although there seem to be a few packages in searching “pavu” that are not:

And yes, the default sound card seems to be nvidia but the only other one listed also does not produce sound.

Sheila

kovacslt · February 1, 2025, 4:23pm

Just launch pavucontrol, go to the “settings” tab.

I have my nvidia-HDMI set OFF. Maybe you have there a profile choosen, something like digital stereo?
Also, your internal soundcard maybe set to OFF.
If that’s the case, choose there analog stereo duplex, or the like…

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:27pm

@kovacslt
I do not have that GUI for pavucontrol. I have the following and you can see that the internal is set to speaker (only other option is headphones) and the GA106 is the HDMI. But no option to “turn it off”

Sheila

kovacslt · February 1, 2025, 4:29pm

Look at “configuration” tab there maybe?

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:32pm

I set the Nvidia to off, but still no sound.

Daniel_Phillips · February 1, 2025, 4:34pm

You are more than likely missing the driver for that sound card which probably is in need of being set in your kernel config!!!

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:37pm

Hi @Daniel_Phillips

So why would the driver have disappeared right after using an external speaker for a week when it had been using my internal speakers for over a year?

Of course, I am assuming it has something to do with using that BT speaker because of the timing of when internal speakers stopped working.

Sheila

Daniel_Phillips · February 1, 2025, 4:39pm

Have no idea, but do a lspci and see what linux has for the sound card!!!

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:44pm

It appears to have both Nvidia GA106 and theIntel Tiger Lake Smart Sound.

Sheila

Daniel_Phillips · February 1, 2025, 4:50pm

I only see a Nvidia sound card listed.

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:51pm

Another thing, which probably does not relate, but I do have some alsa installed. I do have both pipewire and pulseaudio.

Was not sure because following the MX wiki (which may be outdated?) using command “dpkg-reconfigure alsa-base” returned “alsa-base” is not installed.

Sheila

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 4:53pm

TypeHrishi · February 1, 2025, 4:59pm

Are you sure its not a hardware problem?

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 5:00pm

How can I be sure? All I know is they have worked since I bought the laptop until I travelled with it and needed a BT speaker. Once I got back home without connecting the external speaker, no more sound from internal speakers.

Sheila

Daniel_Phillips · February 1, 2025, 5:01pm

Pulseaudio and pipewire will only work if the sound card driver is working!! Have you done a kernel-upgrade lately? Thank you I see it now!!! OK, then both of the audio devices should be set as (M) in your kernel-config!!! There is a grep command that you can list to see if the modules you need are loaded!!!
Like I say, a kernel-upgrade could be responsible!!

Sheila_Flanagan · February 1, 2025, 5:05pm

Since this happened right after returning home in early December, at the time they stopped working, no kernel upgrade.

And if you see the sound wave moving in volume control (meaning sound is being projected) but hear no sound, what else could that imply?

Using test speakers while in the pavucontrol GUI you can see the sound bar move from low to high, implying sound is being generated, right? But if you cannot hear it, I assume it is a software issue, i.e., driver or some configuration that might have changed.

Sheila

Daniel_Phillips · February 1, 2025, 5:09pm

Then the internal speakers, are more than likely using the intel sound and the external speakers are more than likely using nvidia!!! There has to be a switch somewhere, maybe in the pavucontrol config.

callpaul.eu · February 1, 2025, 5:14pm

Can you boot to a usb ?
Try running another linux (mint) from that and try the sound from that.
Identification of a hardware issue perhaps